Police investigating the deaths of a man and a woman whose bodies were discovered separately in a fast-flowing river in north Wales after they had previously been seen walking dogs say their deaths are being regarded at present as an "unfortunate tragic accident".

They have been named locally but police have not confirmed identification of the couple who were seen walking together with five dogs by the river Clywedog in Wrexham on Wednesday. The river had been swollen following torrential rain.

North Wales police said there were no witnesses to say whether one or both had gone into the water to retrieve a dog. Officers recovered the first body, of a 27-year-old woman, from a sandbank at Erddig, Wrexham, soon after being alerted by a member of the public on Wednesday afternoon.

The body of a 25-year-old man was discovered further downstream around midnight after an intensive search by fire and rescue services, as well as mountain rescue services. Both of the deceased are believed to have lived locally.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Pierce said causes for their death had not yet been established. Families of the couple were going through indescribable grief, he said.

The coroner has been told and postmortems will be held on Saturday.

North Wales fire service's water recovery team had been assisting the search. A fire service spokeswoman described the river as "fast flowing" and warned people to be careful when approaching waterways following extreme weather.

She said: "Rivers may appear safe but fast flowing currents are dangerous."